


Young Justice Meta

by sunkelles



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Analysis, Gen, M/M, Meta Essays, Nonfiction, Tumblr is a sinking ship and I'm sure as hell not letting it take my meta with it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 07:12:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16849510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: a few short essays focusing on young justice season two, specifically the reach story line1: an analysis of bart allen's timeline, character, and why he both could not and would not return to the future2: an analysis of the linguistic implications of reach rule3: half meta, half fic about bart not having learned to read back in the reach days





	1. bart's future

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr is a sinking ship and i refuse to let it take my meta down with it. so. since ao3 hosts meta i've decided to move my best and most important stuff here

I saw a story a while ago that had bart allen (yj version) as a minor character but had him wanting to go back to the future, and that really pissed me off because that demonstrates such a poor understanding of both bart’s character and how timelines presumably work in yj. i didn’t want to rant at the author just because i had a lot of bart related ire, but I still have a lot of bart related ire. so y'all are getting a long winded explanation of why bart would never return to the future and why that wouldn’t even work. 

here is my long ass bart allen meta. i hope you guys enjoy it

**  
1\. bart’s future no longer exists.**

the world that bart grew up with has been erased from existence because bart came back to unfuck the timeline. the conditions that bart grew up with are gone, because the team stopped the reach invasion. the people that he grew up with have had their lives completely rewritten, and they will not be the same people that he knew. 

there are a lot of indications that the future has been completely changed and that the rewrites to the timelines completely alter them, but i think that the best examples were nathaniel’s absolute glee and then utter disappointment at the changes at the end of bloodlines, and then bart’s lack of knowledge about green beetle. 

my interpretation of the green beetle incident is that the timelines had already started to completely diverge, and that green beetle’s intervention never happened in bart’s timeline. i think that jaime’s scarab was most probably put on mode after his capture in the episode “darkest” (which would obviously go differently) during the escape, jaime was being contained in a completely different area than the other prisoners. even if they remembered to search for jaime it’s likely that would not have been able to find him quickly enough without bart who was absolutely hellbent on finding him and had superspeed. it’s likely that the team would have left him. 

he would have emerged a few months later, on mode, claiming to have escaped and no one would have thought too much of it, feeling too guilty that they’d left him in the first place and completely unaware of the way that jaime’s tech could be hacked. green beetle would be completely unnecessary if the reach already had their “advanced operative” on earth early enough, and shows a distinct divergence fairly early in the timeline. 

what i’m saying is that by that point, nothing was going the same as it did in bart’s world and the future wasn’t even going to resemble his own. 

nathaniel never became the reach’s puppet. he was not forced to kill barry allen, and whatever series of events led to his bond with bart didn’t happen. the nathaniel in the new future wouldn’t know him. we never see bart’s parents in flashbacks, but i would say that’s completely intentional. at the least awful, he was separated from them and had no hopes of reuniting with them. the more likely reason? they’re both dead in bart’s timeline. 

hell, in this new timeline, bart allen might not even be  _born_. the circumstances that lead to his birth might be fully dependent on reach rule. don allen and (if we’re going by comics canon here) meloni thawne might have only been drawn together because of what happened to them under reach rule, and even if that’s not the case they would have become very different people with a very different son, who would be the one that belongs in that timeline. 

assuming there’s a second bart, he will live a long, happy life with his parents that were never property and will likely never meet nathaniel, who is a very different person than the nathaniel that our bart knew in their timeline (that no longer exists)   
  
  
**2\. bart never planned to go back. EVER**

nathaniel: you understand the trip to the past will fry the machine’s circuitry? this is a one-way ticket

bart: does this look like a future worth returning to? 

 

the line’s a bit flippant, a bit bitter, but the intent is still clear. bart doesn’t care about getting back to the shitty future, he’s concerned with making the future less shitty and he doesn’t care if he gets back to it or not. 

 

 **3\. bart shares no life experience with the people in the new future, and might not even have a place there.**  
  
lets assume that bart did go back, and that there wasn’t another bart born in that timeline. now don allen and his mother (meloni thawne?) who might or might not even know each other, now have a kid that they have never met, never raised, and share nothing with beyond blood. when bart did this in the past, it ended up working because he had a reason to be there and his family was made of good people and they took him in. 

now i’m going to assume that bart’s parents are also good people and would be willing to take him in, but they still share no life experience. these aren’t the parents that bart knew. they won’t understand what he went through as a child, and they definitely won’t understand what he went through with the league, and though they would try, he would feel even less at home with them than he does in the past because these are his parents, people that he probably actually  _did_  know and love, but they’ll always be a little off, a little distant, because they can never  _be_  his parents, and they can never understand the experiences that he has had, even though they would try. 

but wait, what if don and bart’s mother (meloni?) did get together, and they did in fact have bart 2.0. and then on top of that, our bart comes back to the future and whoop dee doo there are now two bart allens. which is,  _wow_ , even more awkward than the situation with bart being able to babysit his dad (which so many people who don’t like bart seem to find such a problem with). because there’s a bart allen who has been through hell and back, and there’s a bart that probably has had a normal, happy life and doesn’t know what to do about this damaged twin of his that claims he saved the world from the reach invasion back in 2015-16. 

someone in the family still takes bart in of course, because the flash family is never going to leave a member on the street, but the problems we saw in the first scenario are only amplified in this one. he still does not share life experience with the people around him and likely can’t relate to them, but now there is a mirror of him, a boy who had the life that he could have had, should have had there as a constant reminder of the hell he lived in and the fact that this timeline will never be his, and he will never really have a place here. 

since don was a speedster (possibly a member of the tornado twins with his sister dawn if we go by comics canon?) he might have slightly more in common with his kind of son, but it’s just not going to be the same. they’ve faced different villains, and even if they are able to bond over training don will never really be the don that raised bart and bart will always just be the sad, lonely tagalong that never quite fits in. 

no matter what the future is, bart does not have a place there and he would know this. he wouldn’t try to go back there, because he gave up his life in the future when he came back to the past to fix it. 

  
**4\. bart has a family and friends he shares life experience with in the past**

bart obviously integrated into his family in the past and the team pretty effectively. he develops what is the beginning of a close relationship with barry in bloodlines, developed a pretty close relationship with wally (wally decided to relinquish his title to him), lives with the garricks, and is likely close to iris and the wests as well, considering how close the entire flash family is. 

these family members don’t share bart’s experiences with the reach apocalypse, but they have developed relationships based on other experiences that they shared, mainly the events in bloodlines, which would be difficult to recreate in other circumstances (with his future family). those were relationships that first started in a dire situation, and became strong for it. bart would have to give up on them if he were going to go to the future and take a gamble that he would be able to find something half as fulfilling. 

the person that bart shares the most life experience with in the past is definitely jaime. i’m a bluepulse shipper, and that effects my view of the relationship but i’m going to try to take my shipper glasses off for a second and look at the situation as its presented in canon. watch in amazement as i don’t talk about how much i want them to kiss

bart definitely goes into his friendship with the intent to gather information on him, and figure out how to take the blue beetle out of the equation. while this colors their relationship, i think that it’s also important to say that bart obviously comes to care for jaime as he is, this slightly abrasive kid that loves his friends and is a little awkward and wants to have a mentor, and would sooner shoot himself in the foot than betray earth. 

he trusts jaime as a person enough to tell him what the future was really like, because he believes that jaime as he knows him would never do that and they have to figure out how that happens. (and even though he was super afraid when jaime told the league about his doomsday prophecy, i think that was also a relief because it means that jaime really doesn’t want to, that he’s taking every precaution to make sure that it doesn’t happen) 

bart legitimately cares about jaime, and by the time that jaime is on mode saving him becomes as important as saving the world.

“we have to set him free! …. you know, before he betrays the earth enslaves all mankind.” 

you could argue that the reason that the part about betraying the earth comes as an afterthought is for comedic effect, but i just don’t think that’s accurate. in bart’s speech pattern, he says the part that’s the most true first, and then he adds the clarification (normally a lie to cover up something from the future) to the end. 

he does this a ton in bloodlines when referring to barry, and one good example is “i can’t wait to meet him, you know, when he was in his prime” because barry allen was totally dead and bart almost let that slip. 

so i would argue that because of the way that bart talks, this line is definitely more than a throwaway. the second part is an afterthought because it’s his justification to everyone else. saving jaime doesn’t seem like enough to these people, because they weren’t as close to jaime as he was (i could and probably will write another essay on how jaime does not have close friends on the team before bart joins, and how completely realistic and well-done that is) so saving  _jaime_ doesn’t seem to warrant the sort of unified action that would require. so bart adds that at the end, to remind the rest of the team that they can’t save the world without saving jaime (because in this case the two are intertwined) and he hopes that they listen to reason. 

this last one has less canon backing than the others, but i would say bart becomes very close to artemis after wally’s death. bart ends up coming to her about it frequently and artemis ends up talking to him about it more often than anyone else because she doesn’t want to burden anyone else with it. also, they have the bond of changing superhero mantles at the same time and had that scene together that was definitely the start of a beautiful brotp. 

the point i’m making here is that because of bart’s close relationships with his family, jaime, and eventually artemis, he would not have a reason to want to return to the future which doesn’t even hold anything of merit for him. so no, bart allen would not go back to the future. just because someone personally finds the situation difficult to understand or deal with doesn’t mean they should ignore characterization and what would actually make bart and those around him happy. bart allen will stay in the past where he has people that he cares about he cares about people, and the world will not explode because he’s kind of going to be like a cool older cousin to his bio dad. 


	2. linguistics and reach rule

i think that one of the most important things that yj ever did for worldbuilding (possibly the coolest bit of linguistic world-building i’ve ever seen in a tv show) was bart’s use of reach-speak.

over a period of forty years the reach took over the earth. the details of that are unclear, but we do know that they ruled the earth. 

when one group rules over another group, it’s going to have an affect on the language. i won’t go into real world details because comparing “that time bug people took over the world on yj” to real atrocities that actually happened, even to make a point about sociolinguistics, would be fucked up. so i’m just going to say that i think that it’s really important to see the ways that being ruled over by the reach both directly and indirectly affected the language. 

there are times that reach terms are used exactly the way that the reach used them, but some of the time they were commandeered and now mean something completely opposite of what the reach meant. (because language can’t be controlled and evolves constantly) so here’s a little bit on the linguistics of the post reach apocalyptic future. 

**mode:** noun

formal usage: literal. the “mode” is what is used to keep subjects under reach control, either completely (like when the reach ambassador used jaime’s body like a remote control toy plane) or by inhibiting someone’s powers. normally used in the phrases on or off mode. 

slang usage: anything working as it normally does. 

bart saying “so i was motivated keep my mouth off mode” in s2 ep 18 specifically meant “keep quiet” 

**moded:**  past participle, normally used as an adjective 

reach usage: non-existent. as far as i remember throughout the season, the reach only use “on mode” or “off mode”. 

bart’s usage: negative, and can be either literal or figurative. can mean “on mode” but can also mean “fucked”. i think that i recall bart also using “moding” which would be another participial form of the word that basically means restrictive. 

**crash:** verb or adjective 

reach usage: always a verb. negative and literal. when the mode stops functioning and they lose control. 

bart and nathaniel’s usage: positive. verb usage is the same as the reach’s (only with a positive connotation). adjective is basically a slang term used for anything good, comparable to “cool” or “awesome”. 

**meat:** noun

reach usage: derogatory, possibly a slur. the full extent of the term is hard to gauge because it is used for humans, metahumans, and atlanteans alike. possibly refers to anyone who is not reach. 

“meat is meat” black beetle, in s2 e10 if i recall correctly

bart’s usage: an insult, reads as much milder than the reach version. my best read is that it means close to “idiot” or “loser”. 

“why so surprised? half the meat at comic con are from my era.” bart in s2 ep 6, when he first arrives in the past

 i have no idea on the connotation here tbh. the whole line confuses me. i get my read on how it’s used by humans from the second time bart uses it, but i put this there because as the only other time he uses its its existence is important. (especially if there’s anyone else who wants to analyze this with me. this is a personal invitation) 

“what kind of meat is this guy? he’s never gonna hit us with those” bart in s2 ep 6, during the fight with neutron

both times that i remember bart using “meat” are in bloodlines, which is probably intentional. out of all the terms that he picked up from the reach, this one is the worst and probably the hardest to explain away to those around him. my thoughts are that bart stopped using it after realizing that it was  _definitely_ not normal slang and not something that he could explain away. 

in conclusion: the way that bart talks is incredibly well thought out, especially when you analyze it alongside the way that members of the reach talk. not only is this great worldbuilding, but it was a great way to link bart with the reach early on in his story line through their use of unfamiliar language.

as someone who loves grrm’s novels partially because of the extensive linguistic worldbuilding, i’ve got to say i really appreciate getting such a good example in the last 7 hours of a cartoon. 

 


	3. bart's secrets

bart allen has secrets, and then he has things that are frankly none of anyone’s business. the fact that zoom is his other grandfather is a secret. the fact that he’s gay? he just doesn’t mention that because it’s nobody’s business (expect maybe jaime’s someday, hopefully) the fact that he’s illiterate? that falls somewhere in the middle. 

bart’s a sneaky motherfucker. lying comes as easily to him as breathing, even easier than running does. his dad taught him how to write his name (both bart and bartholomew allen II. boy howdy was THAT hard for a seven year old that didn’t know his letters) he knows numbers and most mathematical symbols. nathaniel taught him those when they were pouring over figures and formulas to make the damn time machine, but everything else? 

he’s clueless about the rest. 

he tricks barry into showing him how all the apps on his phone work, and he memorizes every phone number that he needs. he figures out how to make siri dictate everything out for him, and sure, he makes a ton of typos but people assume that he’s doing it intentionally because he’s bart. 

he records audio instructions for all of his assignments and dictates everything on his phone and prints it out, which makes him look super studious to his teachers, even though they’re a bit confused by all of the typos. he tricks other people in reading him the instructions and whatever he needs, and he takes a ton of math courses and art courses that don’t really need a lot of reading or writing that’s not just his name or numbers. 

he’s able to do this for months before anyone figures it out, and it’s actually jaime that does, because he spends a ton of time with jaime and jaime cares about him and pays a lot of attention. 

jaime corners him into trying to read a mission debrief and bart can’t, obviously. 

“you can’t read it, can you,” jaime says, and bart turns bright red. 

“not all of us got to go to that kid garden thing,” bart says. 

“kindergarten,” jaime says, and bart rolls his eyes. 

“whatever,” he says. 

“look,” he says, “please don’t tell anyone.” 

“why would i do that?” jaime says, “look, someone needs to know. you can’t just go on like this.” 

“i don’t want them to get that  _you poor child_  look,” bart says. and then they go back and forth for a while about whether or not they have to tell someone and jaime’s like FINE but you have to learn how to. and then bart tells him that he can’t because then people will find out and jaime’s like “hermano, ese, my man, i can teach you” 

 

INSERT THE PLOT OF HOLES HERE 


End file.
